With economic losses anticipated to reach well into the tens of billions of dollars, Aon expects Hurricane Ida to become one of the costliest US mainland hurricanes yet, both on a nominal and inflation-adjusted basis.
(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Commenting during its monthly catastrophe report, the broker explained how despite a sizeable insured portion of coastal and inland flood damage, public and private insurance entities could still be facing exposures into the double-digit billions of dollars.
Aon’s report notes that Ida made landfall as a 150 mph Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, Louisiana on August 29 before causing extensive wind, storm surge and inland flood damage across the Southeast.
Finally, its remnants later resulted in exceptional flash flood damage and convective storm impacts in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on September 1.
Meanwhile, the month of August saw a major and deadly earthquake strike Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula on August 14, killing at least 2,207 people and injuring 12,268 others.
The magnitude-7.2 tremor left nearly 140,000 structures damaged or destroyed in the Sud, Nippes, and Grand’Anse Departments alone.
Aon says Government officials unofficially estimated $3 billion in economic damage, with most losses uninsured.
“As larger-scale disasters occur with more intensity and subsequently result in greater impacts, this has put a spotlight on areas where gaps lie in humanitarian and insurance protection,” said Steve Bowen, managing director and head of Catastrophe Insight on the Impact Forecasting team at Aon.
“This is true regardless of whether a country is identified as developed or emerging. Hurricane Ida’s catastrophic impacts in the United States highlighted how much work is yet to be done to better insure around inland and coastal flooding.
“An even greater gap is found in Haiti following the major earthquake that once again has the country facing a challenging recovery. How governmental bodies work with private sector groups to improve hazard protection and aim to better and more smartly rebuild will be key to lowering future natural peril risk.”
